The Korean peninsula is as divided as ever
But rumours of war are overblown
Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s dictator, ended 2023 with war on his mind. Speaking to assembled party grandees on December 30th, he declared that the North and the South were now “two belligerents in the midst of war”. In early January he claimed to have no intention of starting a real conflict, but would have “no hesitation in annihilating” South Korea if it did.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “War talk”
From the January 20th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
The Adani scandal takes the shine off Modi’s electoral success
The tycoon’s indictment clouds the prime minister’s prospects
Priyanka Gandhi: dynastic scion, and hope of India’s opposition
Poised to enter parliament, she may have bigger ambitions than that
The Caspian Sea is shrinking rapidly
This has big implications for Russia, which has come to rely on Central Asian ports
Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand
A controversial bill regarding Maori people punctures its relative harmony
Once a free-market pioneer, Sri Lanka takes a leap to the left
A new president with Marxist roots now dominates parliament too
The mystery of India’s female labour-force participation rate
A good news story? Maybe